


Four Times It Sucked to Be a Slave at Marshank

by LadyoftheShield



Series: Filling in the Blanks [2]
Category: Redwall Series - Brian Jacques
Genre: Blood, Child Abuse, Gen, Menstruation, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slavery, Starvation, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-11-01
Packaged: 2018-02-23 13:36:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2549432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyoftheShield/pseuds/LadyoftheShield
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>and the one memory that stayed. Drabble fic, one hundred words for each character.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Times It Sucked to Be a Slave at Marshank

**1\. Barkjon**

Rope cut into his paws as he hauled the stone monolith. Fire arced across his back and he groaned. He locked his legs and kept pulling, trying to ignore the pangs in his stomach. Halved portions of thin gruel and moldy bread were not enough to fill four little mouths. So Barkjon threw his weight against the rope, letting red blood trickle down his paws. Before they sat down to eat, he covered the lacerations with dirty rags and mixed his gruel in with theirs. He wished he could give more, but he needed to eat. Barkjon wished he didn’t.  
  
**2\. Felldoh**

It only took an instant for the metal throne to slip. Felldoh felt pain lance down his arm, but dismissed it. Adjusting his grip on the base, he felt his paws slip on something wet. A headache formed behind his left eye. Digging his claws into the wood, he lifted his side higher with a grunt, claiming more of the weight from his father and Geum. They let the throne drop into place. Then he saw the red gushing from his arm. Felldoh’s head whirled and he fell, his head feeling as if it were squeezed under a great weight.

**3\. Tullgrew**

Somebeast was clawing out her insides. She lay curled in a ball on the ground, pressing a sun-warmed rock against her abdomen. Even after Purslane and Barkjon explained what was happening to her, the boys whispered amongst themselves in concern. Struck by another bout of nausea, she dry heaved. A paw gently brushed her temple, and her eyes closed. Then the whistle sounded. She tried to stand, but could not. The pain overwhelmed her, and Tullgrew sank back to the ground with an agonized whimper. Frantic arguing washed over her as everything passed in a haze of sound and light.

**4\. Keyla**

He stood waist-deep in cold water with a basket in his arms as he checked the traps. The clammy fish slipped from his shivering, numb paws and vanished into the murky ocean waters. There was a shout from the shore, and Keyla turned directly into the lump of shale thrown at his face. Stumbling back, he fell into the waves, the basket flying from his paws. Suppressing a sob, he struggled up again and reclaimed it from the tide. See? I’m working, he thought as warm blood trickled down his face and his eye swelled shut. Please don’t beat me.

**5\. Martin**

When he wasn’t helping with the construction, Martin’s spirit grew restless and his paws twitched. At odd times, Martin brought the builders a pitcher of cool strawberry fizz and encouraging words. When winter began to bite, he would head outside bundled in cloak and shawl to distribute steaming soup. They attributed it to his inner nature. In truth, Martin remembered little from his past. But sometimes, he would wake suddenly, in his dreamworld laid bare before the beating sun and cutting cold wind. Beside him, a face he could no longer picture moaned as a whip cracked across their backs.


End file.
